About the book: 2023 / Another book by the legendary Leonov-Makeev tandem. A valuable figurine found during excavations in the Urals was stolen. The watchman who tried to prevent the theft was killed. Colonels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Gurov and Kryachko are interrogating interested parties, including world-famous archaeological scientists. Each of them has their own version of what happened: from the blasphemous theft of a unique artifact to the initial falsification of the discovery itself. The detectives engage an experienced specialist from the old scientific school as an independent consultant. The confession of the elderly professor plunged the operatives into a real shock... Nikolai Leonov, a former MUR investigator, knew firsthand how the most complicated criminal cases are solved. Therefore, each of his books is a true, exciting story with unpredictable intrigue and an unexpected ending. The main character of these books, Colonel Lev Gurov, is a high-class detective, moreover, with a lot of positive human qualities. He is respected by his friends, feared by his enemies and loved by women. He is a real domestic superman. Novels about Lev Gurov have invariably attracted fans of Russian detective stories for forty years now. The classic “Black Cat” series includes more than 200 books, with tens of millions of copies sold..